Basic Rock Climb - Yellowjacket Tower/East Flank

One of our student was unable to make it due to illness, so we were a party of three. I rolled my pant legs up for the approach, but then found a tick dug into my shin. We had to shoo several other ticks off our clothing too. Yellowjacket Tower is more about managing the ascent and descent of the loose sandy gully than it is about the technical climbing. We scrambled the gully keeping close together and trying to avoid kicking rocks down. It would be bad to have a party ahead of you. As usual we set a handline for the first pitch, pitched out the second, and set a top rope on the summit tower. Apparently the pocket on the summit move is getting bigger. It took a blue tri-cam this time. One of the bolts on the summit was loose, so we hand tightened it, but it would be better to do with a wrench.

We descended with a double rope rappel from the tree on the summit ledge, then one from the tree just below the first pitch, and then finally one from the tree above the gully chockstone. Beautiful day for a climb.